Letter: Voting by mail

I found myself nodding my head in agreement reading Angela Rodell’s opinion that the City and Borough of Juneau evinces some hypocrisy mandating municipal voting by mail yet casting doubt on the practice of paying property taxes with a mailed check. Yup, she has a point here.

However upon further contemplation I concluded that her thesis is resting on a false equivalency. CBJ just wants timely payments to help residents avoid the immediate 5% late fees. CBJ has a new policy which mandates payment of property taxes by Sept. 30 — a check mailed at the last minute (that’s the “Russian roulette” reference) won’t cut it.

In terms of sending ballots by mail, many civic-minded people are elderly or disabled and they deserve to have the vote-by-mail option. We are not yet a third-world country and the mail works well, so let’s give our postal workers a little love. Many other municipalities (Denver, Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake City, to name a few) have instituted mail-in-only voting because it increases participation. 

Emily Kane

Juneau